It’s been 3 years since Hermione Granger fell in love with Harry Potter; it’s been 2 years since that fateful night in her apartment; and it’s been 1 year since that blasted wedding she’d stormed out of. A girl like Hermione isn’t usually one to over-react. But she also isn’t one to listen to her heart instead of her mind.

But yet again, here she was dwelling on the mess she’d made with her best friend and the holder of her heart. She stared down at the old letter that was in her hands. When she had first received it several months ago, she thought it was going to be him telling her that he still loved her and wanted her back. But no, it was Ron telling her that they had fixed everything and the wedding had gone off without another hitch.

I heard that you’re settled down

That you found a girl and you’re married now

I heard that your dreams came true

Guess she gave you things I didn’t give to you

She stood from her curled up position on her couch and walked over to the fireplace ablaze with a wild flame. Once again, she contemplated throwing the letter into the amber tongues but as usual, turned and put it back in the box on the neighboring shelf.

As she wandered to her room to take a shower, she thought of the night it all went south. They’d always been the Golden Trio, but Hermione and Harry had always been closer than anything. When Ron had left during the war, it only made their relationship that much clearer.

She striped of her clothes and stepped into the burning water, relishing in the sting it caused but also the warmth that it wrapped her body in. Her mind drifted to the final battle, when Ron was just about to kiss her and Harry came running down the broken and rumbling mess that the stairs now were. The look on his face had distracted them and Hermione knew at once what was going through his mind. Tears started pouring down her face as she watched him walk out the doors towards the dark forest.

As she remembered how scared she was that he wouldn’t come back alive, her tears started mixing with the shower water as she relived the horror she felt when she saw Hagrid carrying the supposed lifeless body of Harry Potter into the courtyard. But when he had disappeared then jumped back into battle, she was frozen with relief.

The battle had raged for only a short while. By sunset, the trio was looking behind them at their home, now bearing battle wounds. It was going to take a lot of magic to get it fixed if McGonagall wanted it open for next term. She turned to Harry, who was beaming just like the rest of them, but his eyes held a different kind of relief. She pulled him aside to ask him what was wrong but was instead met with his lips crashing down on hers. After she got over the shock, she wrapped her fingers in his tangled hair.

Hermione wiped the tears off her cheeks and let her fingers linger on her lips, feeling the tingle that was always there, left in the wake of his kiss.

But soon after, all three were swarmed with congratulations and thanks and job offers, leaving the kiss to be long forgotten; but not by Hermione.

Months later, all three had their own flats and Harry and Hermione were already starting work. Ron couldn’t decide between a ministry job and Quidditch. Hermione was sitting on her couch watching a movie on her muggle television when she heard a knock on her door. She instantly knew who it was since only one person chose to come through the door instead of by floo.

She jumped up to open the door and was met by a pair of blazing emerald eyes and a mop of black hair. After letting Harry in and catching up on all that had happened in their lives, they settled on the couch to finish the movie Hermione had started. It was that night that she finally brought up the kiss. Harry dodged it quite a bit at first, obviously hesitant to return to the subject, or rather the day that it had happened.

Old friend, why are you so shy?

It ain’t like you to hold back or hide from the light

But after Hermione convinced him that they needed to talk about it, Harry confessed something she hadn’t been expecting.

“Hermione, I kissed you that day because I liked you, no loved you. I was just so happy to finally wrap my head around the fact that you were still alive after everything that we’d been through, I couldn’t think of anything else to do. I knew word weren’t going to do me justice so I kissed you. Hermione, I’ve liked you since second year when I saw you petrified on that hospital bed, and knew it for certain when you came sprinting down the Great Hall into my arms at the end of that same year. I never said anything because shortly after that Ron admitted that he liked you. I wasn’t going to do that to him. He’s always complaining about how he’s always in my shadow and that I get anything that I wasn’t going to take something else away from him. But when I looked at you that day, it was like I didn’t care anymore. I just wanted you in my arms.”

Hermione just stared at him as he slowly drew closer to her, and then as he wrapped a single hand behind her head, until her eyes drifted closed as he kissed her again. It was that night that Hermione decided to give herself to him. It was also the night that she would forever claim to regret.

Hermione took a deep breath as she shoved it all to the back of her mind, and stepped out of the shower to wrap a towel around herself. She dried off and slipped into some pajamas before climbing into bed. She hoped that tonight she would be released from her constant flashback dreams but nothing was easy for Hermione.

She had just apparated herself outside the Harry’s flat. She walked up to the front door and gave it a rap only to be met by the youngest red-head. Ginny jumped on her, nearly squeezing the life out of her. It was obvious she still hadn’t learned about Hermione’s relations with her current boyfriend. She pulled Hermione into the flat and then left her to make herself comfortable on the couch.

As she scanned the pictures, her eyes met several familiar faces, some Weasley and some not, until she met real green ones. After holding each other’s gaze, Hermione nodded her head out the door, then turned and walked out.

She walked all the way to the edge of the street next to a small lake and stood there staring at her reflection until his joined hers on the surface.

I hate to turn up out of the blue uninvited

But I couldn’t stay away, I couldn’t fight it

I’d hoped you’d see my face and that you’d be reminded

That for me, this isn’t over

They stood there in the uncomfortable silence until Harry broke it.

“I haven’t seen you in weeks, if not months. You won’t respond to my owls or my calls. And if you see me in the hallways at work, you turn and walk away. Why, Hermione? We were best friends. What happened?”

Tears flooded her vision as she turned away from him and took a few steps towards a bench. She sat down and let her head fall into her hands. Harry joined her and set what was meant to be a comforting hand on her back, but she shook it off.

She sat up and looked into his hurt eyes and said, “Don’t give me that, Harry. You knew very well what happened. I loved you, I gave you my whole heart, and then I wake up the next morning to an empty bed. Then later that same day, Ron shows up to deliver the ‘good news’, telling me you and Ginny had finally gotten back together. You hurt me Harry. It was like you took my heart and then ripped it into teeny tiny pieces. I couldn’t stand to see you after that. I knew one look at you would be the end of me.”

Harry sat in silence as more tears fell down her now flushed face. It took him a minute to wrap his head around what she was saying, but in the end all he could think to say was, “Then why are you here now?”

“I was going on one last fetal hope that I could get you back. That if you saw me, things might change. But obviously I was wrong.”

Nevermind, I'll find someone like you

I wish nothing but the best, for you too

Don't forget me, I beg, I remember you said

Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead

Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead

She stood and walked back to the end of the water. She stared back at her reflection again until a tear fell from her cheek onto the surface of the water, breaking the smooth mirror.

Harry came back to her side. “I’m sorry for what I did Hermione, I really am. I’ve spent all the time wondering what in the world I could say to you to make it all ok. I can’t even express how much I miss how we used to be. All those times we’d hang out before school would start up again, just enjoying the heat and spend every second of every day together. Those were the best days of my life; before everything got so complicated and messed up. And now we never see each other, and it’s like we aren’t even friends anymore.

You’d know how the time flies

Only yesterday was the time of our lives

We were born and raised in a summer haze

Bound by the surprise of our glory days

As much as she hated to admit it, out loud or to herself, she missed those days too. Those last weeks of each summer at the Burrow before they’d be sent off for another school year, and most likely another Voldemort life-or-death problem too. “I miss it all too, Harry. That’s why I’m here. I know I probably showed up at a bad time or something but I can’t stop thinking about all the great times we had. It seems so long ago now that it seems hazier than a distant memory. I don’t want to let those days be a thing of the past, I want them back.” She took a deep breath as she tried to get a hold on her emotions. “I want you back. I spent so many years wondering if today was the last day I’d have with you and tomorrow you’d be gone, which got even worse when we went on that damn horcrux hunt. I don’t want to have to go back to that, Harry. I want you back in my life.”

I hate to turn up out of the blue uninvited

But I couldn’t stay away, I couldn’t fight it

I’d hoped you’d see my face and that you’d be reminded

That for me, this isn’t over

Harry froze. Hermione couldn’t tell if it was because of her admission or because he just didn’t know how to respond without hurting her, but she wasn’t going to wait around to find out. “I’m not going to ask anything of you. I’m not going to ask you to break up with Ginny just so we can see if we’ll work out, just to give us a shot. I’m not that kind of friend. But I’m not going to wait for some meaningful explanation of how you feel about this or us or even me. I can’t risk dealing with any more pain than I already have.” She knew that would probably hurt, she could already see it in his eyes, but she’d had enough. She turned and planted a quick kiss on his cheek, and then turned towards the street and started walking down the sidewalk.

“Hermione, I don’t want to hurt you anymore, I never did in the first place. But please, don’t disappear out of my life again.” His emerald eyes were pleading with her.

But she couldn’t do it. “I’m not making any promises.” With that, she disapparated, not even caring if anyone saw her.

Hermione sprang out of her dream and shot straight up in her bed. Her eyes were sore and felt puffy as if she had actually been crying. It was probably just from her constant lack of sleep. She got out of bed and headed to the kitchen to make some tea, resigned to the fact that she wasn’t going to be getting any more sleep that night.

The intellectual side of Hermione knew she needed, and had to, let go of any and all feelings she had for one Harry Potter. Heck he was married now, after all. And that was a wedding of a lifetime. Well, probably was anyways. She hadn’t exactly stuck around to see the ceremony. That was one more thing she knew she couldn’t bare.

She had been there through all the preparations, all the set-up, had helped Ginny with anything and everything, all the while continuously refusing to be the maid of honor. It nearly killed her every time she had to say no to Ginny, mainly because she couldn’t give her a reason why. But she knew she wasn’t going to be able to make it through the wedding. Which is why, after she helped Ginny out the door of the Burrow and onto the long white carpet just like Bill and Fleur’s wedding at the Burrow, did she close the door behind Ginny and disapparated to her flat, where she cried and cried.

But according to the letter from Ron, the wedding had been amazing. Reporters were there but were of course kept at a certain distance. As much as the young couple didn’t want their big day being swarmed with reporters, there wasn’t much you could do when the famous Harry Potter was getting married. But it was through these reporters and Ron’s letter that Hermione knew about the wedding.

According to the Daily Prophet, it had been the “wedding of a lifetime”. Ginny had floated down the aisle in her gorgeous yet simple floor-length white halter dress towards the groom and the rest of the wedding party. Both had huge smiles on their faces and looked happier than ever. Next to the article had been a picture (moving, of course), taken from behind Ginny as she walked towards Harry. Another under it was a close-up of Harry and Ron, both with their eyes fixed on the bride to be. But Hermione, and only Hermione, could see the mix of awestruck love and pain in his eyes. And only Hermione knew that the pain in those loving eyes of his was her fault.

Hermione took her finished tea over to her couch and sat down as she clicked on her television. She chastised herself about seriously needing to let go of her feelings for her friend, married friend.

Nevermind, I’ll find someone like you

I wish nothing but the best for you two

Don’t forget me, I beg, I remember you said

Sometimes it last in love but sometimes it hurts instead

She needed to be happy for them. They were both happily married and in love. Before long they would be starting the family that Harry always wanted and craved. Eventually Hermione would let go of these feelings and try to become close to her three friends again, when she knew her heart could handle it. She didn’t want to go through life missing out on everything and everyone important to her. But she had to let go of Harry first.

She had always told others and herself that her life motto was “never regret anything that once made you smile”. Hermione was not a girl to regret anything, but she knew she would regret it if she let her friends continue slipping away from her.

Nothing compares, no worries or cares

Regrets and mistakes, they’re memories made

Who would have known how bittersweet this would taste?

She had to move on. She had to let go of Harry and find someone else. Besides, there were plenty of other men out there, right? Plenty of “fish in the sea”. She actually rolled her eyes at that thought. But it was true none the less. She would move on. She would find someone else. And she would get her friends back in her life. Because when Hermione Granger set her mind to something, it always got done.

She would find her own love and let go of Harry. Right?

Nevermind, I'll find someone like you.

I wish nothing but the best for you too.

Don't forget me, I beg, I remembered you said

Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead

Nevermind, I'll find someone like you.

I wish nothing but the best for you too.

Don't forget me, I beg, I remembered you said

Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead

Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead

A/N: Thanks for reading! The song is Someone Like You by Adele. Please leave a review, they do make all the difference! And in only takes a few seconds. Thanks for reading!